Death Team has been terrorizing the airwaves and Youtube screens of music lovers with their addicting visuals and beats. When I say addicting I mean it, their songs will get stuck in your head to the point where death might seem like the only escape, a quite possible nod to their name. The group is a bag full of mixed genre and pop culture references that is sure to hit the music scene hard and take us all prisoners.
When is your first album coming out?
We are working on the album right now. We got about two more songs to finish. Oh my god we are so tired right now. But we love it.
What are the things you discovered about yourself as a musician that you found out by playing together?
Death Team has meant a lot for both of our musical journeys. Mayka has discovered her inner Tupac and love for simple pop songs while Johen discovered white noize and that normal people doesn’t find intrinsic value in sinus waves and vintage delays.
What can your fans expect to hear on the album?
A mashup of styles and expressions, strong hooks, girly rap, indie, hipster mainstream, sugar, pain. The sounds of dolphins echoing away over the surface of a blue ocean. Sexy girls stealing your drink at a party. Bad ass cheerleaders chanting “we don’t have if you have fun” towards a bored audience. Songs about money and girl power.
How did you come up with the title and song “Fucking Bitches In The Hood”?
Mayka had this crazy idea to make a gangsta rap song. At the same time Johen had this post modern idea to make a 50s song with the unexpected twist of using white noize as a lead instrument. Combining these two amazing ideas resulted in “Fucking bitches in the hood”. We have no idea how it happened it just did. When it was recorded we were like “OMG WHAT HAVE WE DONE? IS THIS EVEN ALLOWED?”
What was the inspiration behind that song?
Stereotypical hip hop brag, Internet, Jerry Lee Lewis, Back To The Future 2, the young years of Johen growing up in the area Vivalla in Örebro, Girl-Power, finding out who you really are, books about self-help, the feeling of having money in your pockets, the feeling of being really poor and eating oatmeal, the conflict inside of you about if you should try to find nirvana or just letting go of everything and make a fun song that makes you happy.
What are your musical references?
Mayka is into trap and and Johen is into mainstream pop music. We both love hip hop. Mayka has a past as a house DJ/producer and Johen was once indie pop’s best kept secret. We also love 90s guilty pleasures like Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys.
What instruments do you play?
Mayka sings and has a macbook. Johen plays piano and syntheziers and drums. Mayka loves taking the role as Art Director and we both write awesome lyrics and toplines.
How did you learn to play?
Johens father is a blues musician so Johen got to play with studio equipment, synthesizers,computers and drum machines while other kids had to be outside. Mayka learned how to be a star by watching a lot of MTV and being overly obsessed with Kurt Cobain and Snoop Dogg. She has also found her 5 year old inner rapper through hardcore meditation and yoga.
What’s the most annoying part about collaborating?
When we are not in sync with each other. Not fun for anyone. Like when we have different ideas and can’t seem to find a way of combining them *very diplomatic answer*
What is a must have for in the studio days?
Playfulness and flight mode! And of course coffee. We don’t use much more than a small keyboard, laptop and mic. Doesn’t matter how much cool hardware or expensive stuff you have – For us it’s always the idea that counts
What was it like when you got the call that you just got signed to a major label?
Oh my god it was crazy, Mayka was out partying and celebrating for 3 weeks in a row. We both have hustling indie/DIY backgrounds so it all felt very big and unrealistic. A major label would mean real muscles and a big team working for us – We would get big weights lifted off our shoulders and we could focus even more on the creative stuff.
What was the first song you guys ever made together?
“Im so drunk I wanna fight”
How did the name Death Team come about?
We made a song about a group of cheerleaders calling themselves Death Team. The name was so cool so we decided to take the name for our band instead.
What’s the best thing about recording music together.
Having fun and expressing yourself and pushing the limit of what you’re allowed to write pop songs about. Right now we are working on a song about drinking blood.
How do you describe the music “industry”
A fantasy landscape with big fluffy air castles made of rainbows and maple syrup. And fancy press pictures. It’s all an illusion but it’s very fun being a part of it as long as you don’t take yourself too serious. During this last five months being signed to a major label we have met many of our idols. Its fun but a lot of them lack talent. You are always on your own in this world. Even in the music industry. Its all about money, sex and power. And sometimes talent, but its rare.
What do you want to give to your fans?
Happiness, joy, a holding hand in the dark, a fun youtube video with cats a tuesday morning. We wanna be best friends with our fans and want everybody to be a part of our musical journey. And we wanna be a part of their lives too. Death Team is a band of the people.
